Gun nut charged with threats on senator

Recent alleged threats made against a Bay Area state senator by a Santa Clara man has led to dozens of charges filed by prosecutors on Friday.

Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) received threats against him in response to efforts to end gun violence. A California Highway Patrol investigation eventually led to the arrest of Everett Fred Basham, 45, Yee’s office announced on Thursday.

Basham is now being charged with a total of 10 felonies, including criminal threats with an armed enhancement, two counts of possessing a destructive device, two counts of possessing materials with intent to make explosives, and several others.

Yee said on Thursday that he received the threatening email four weeks ago that allegedly specifically stated that if he did not halt his legislative efforts to stop gun violence, he would be killed in or around the state Capitol in Sacramento.

Yee said the email, allegedly sent by Basham, stated that he was a trained sniper and had certain weapons in his possession.

Yee said he took the threat very seriously:

“This threat was unlike any other I had received. It was not a racist rant on my ethnicity or culture, but instead it was very deliberate and specific. As a psychologist, I was deeply concerned by the calculating nature of this email.”

Basham was said to own assault weapons including a Barret 416 high-powered rifle and a Franchi SPAS 12 combat shotgun, according to the Mercury News.

On Friday afternoon, shackled and dressed in a bright red jumpsuit, Basham appeared in the San Jose courthouse for his hearing.

Yee’s proposed bill AB47 targets the “bullet button” loophole in the state’s assault weapons ban where weapons with magazines can be replaced quickly with a simple button, according to the Mercury News. It will be heard by the Senate Public Safety Committee in several weeks.

It is said Basham also worked briefly for famed Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak — who supposedly called him a “brilliant” engineer — after Basham was arrested this past week.